


Richie's Last Day

by intouchwithhumanity



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bedroom Sex, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Bossy Eddie Kaspbrak, Bottom Eddie Kaspbrak, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Established Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Established Relationship, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Sex, Hand Jobs, Light Angst, M/M, Reddie, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Semi-Public Sex, Shower Sex, Smut, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Soft Richie Tozier, Stanley Uris is a Good Friend, Usually I stan Bottom!Richie but I didn't think it fit with this narrative, this is two thirds smut one third fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 02:20:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21046691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intouchwithhumanity/pseuds/intouchwithhumanity
Summary: Tomorrow is Richie's last day in Derry, and his boyfriend Eddie is trying to plan the perfect send-off. He realises that if he wants to lose his virginity to Richie, then he might not get another chance.Or, the one where Richie and Eddie have sex for the first time in between some tooth-rotting fluff, teasing, swearing and general Reddie-ness.





	Richie's Last Day

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [No-One But You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20709359) by [intouchwithhumanity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/intouchwithhumanity/pseuds/intouchwithhumanity). 

> You don't have to read my huge Reddie fic No-One But You, but this scene is a big expansion on Richie's last day in Derry which is covered in Chapter 2. I wanted to keep that fic age-appropriate so I cut the smut, but here it is for those who want it. 
> 
> While this is *very* explicit sexual content, it's also pretty cute and funny in places, because I imagined these two would make a right mess of things and love every second. 
> 
> For context for those who haven't read the big fic, it's established Reddie and they're eighteen.

Tomorrow was Richie’s last day in Derry. Eddie had been attempting to plan it for a while, wanting to make sure that it was perfect, but without much success. It was a lot of pressure trying to construct a day that Richie might just be able to remember once he left the town borders.

He came up with a hundred ideas, trying to find some special, unique thing they had yet to do together, but nothing felt right. In the middle of a cycle of his endless frustrations, he did what he always did through the years: he went to Stan to seek some advice.

Stan knew that Richie was in love with Eddie. He’d bluntly asked Richie on the Losers’ prom night, and Richie had surprised him with an honest answer.

Richie hadn’t said anything about Eddie reciprocating his feelings, but Stan had watched Eddie closely to come to his own suspicions that there was more to Richie and Eddie’s relationship than they had dared to share with the group. So when Eddie came to him, he knew why it might be so important to him that their last day mattered.

Stan smiled at Eddie, ‘What would you want to do?’ he asked. ‘If it was the other way around and you were leaving, what would you want to do with Richie on your last day?’

Eddie said automatically, ‘I don’t know,’ but the cogs began to turn in his head, and it hit him. He would just want to be with him. He didn’t care what they did or where they were, as long as they were together. That’s all he would really want.

Stan interrupted his thought process. ‘It doesn’t have to be a big deal.’ His voice dropped, and he put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. ‘One more day won’t be the difference between remembering and forgetting.’

Eddie looked at him. There was a look in his eyes that told Eddie he understood, almost as though he’d thought and felt the same things that Eddie was thinking and feeling. ‘Thanks Stan,’ he said.

So Eddie had planned the day, the most wonderfully, stereotypically Richie-and-Eddie day he could think of. He’d found himself at the shop, picking up Richie’s favourite popcorn so that they could watch a scary movie in the evening, when he spotted a few items that he’d never bought before.

He looked over his shoulder, embarrassed and certain that at any moment somebody he knew would walk up behind him and see what he was looking at. He scanned the array, unsure of the difference between a lot of the products.

Briefly, he worried as he remembered that a lot of people were allergic to latex. He shook his head; he didn’t have time to be anxious. If he was going to buy these things, he needed to do it quickly before he changed his mind.

Surreptitiously, he selected a few different things and buried them under the other items in his shopping basket. Flustered, he made his way to the cashier. His cheeks burned pink and he shuffled. It would have looked to a casual observer like he might be a shoplifter.

The cashier eyed him suspiciously. He smiled at her nervously. Her expression softened as she uncovered the items and scanned them through.

‘Are you eighteen, lovie?’ she whispered.

Eddie fumbled for his driver’s license and showed it to her.

She nodded and smiled, lines creasing at the corner of her eyes. ‘Cash or card?’

Eddie hugged the paper bag to his chest all the way home. Once in the safety of his bedroom, he went to the bedside drawer and unloaded. He felt like a prisoner smuggling contraband items. It was so unlike him to do such a thing. The adrenaline strident through his spine, he giggled to himself, then closed the drawer.

He sat on the side of the bed and thought, rubbing his palms along the fabric of his shorts. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. Ironically, considering Richie’s propensity for vulgar jokes and crass insults, the boys had never really talked about what sex meant for them.

They’d experimented a little over the years, but it wasn’t often they found themselves in a safe enough space with no parents around, with none of the other Losers around. They weren’t taught about it in school, they weren’t sure how it was supposed to be, supposed to look, supposed to feel.

Still, he’d always been told that the first time should be with someone that you love. Once they’d got together, he’d always thought that the first time would be with Richie. Crucially, selfishly, he didn’t want Richie to lose his virginity to someone else, and Eddie didn’t want to lose his virginity to someone else either.

On Richie’s last day, Sonia Kaspbrak would be out with the Tozier parents for a farewell dinner. Richie and Eddie could be alone.

His heart pounded. He didn’t even know how he would begin to have that discussion with Richie, how he would bring it up. What if Richie hadn’t even considered the option and it became awkward and uncomfortable? The last thing he wanted was to ruin their last few precious memories together.

Or what if they tried, but it didn’t work? What if it wasn’t any good? Eddie put his head in his hands and tried to breathe calmly. He bit his nails down to the skin. He looked over at the drawer.

‘At least we have the option,’ Eddie said to himself resolutely. ‘If it’s not right, I don’t need to mention it. Can’t hurt to own these things anyway.’

Eddie went to bed that night staring at the bedside table, the infinite possible scenarios playing over and over in his mind.

\---

Eddie was up early. He showered, shaved, pondered his outfit before settling on his classic T-shirt and shorts combination, then spent a good twenty minutes on his hair. He was melancholy; sad knowing this was their last day, but grateful because he knew it was lucky to know exactly how much time they had left, so they could make every second count.

He turned up on the Tozier doorstep. Maggie looked flustered. Her hair was a mess. ‘He’s upstairs,’ she said, then hurried back to packing.

Eddie knocked twice on Richie’s door as he entered. He started as he looked at the room around him. It was so bare; there were boxes stacked in the corners. The paint had peeled in spots where Richie had torn down his posters. Even the bed was stripped down to the mattress. It felt wrong, jarring. Richie was sat on the far side of the bed, faced away from Eddie.

‘Hey,’ Eddie greeted.

Richie brought his hands to his face and wiped away the tear stains that he didn’t want Eddie to see. ‘Hey,’ he said.

Having carefully closed the door with a click, Eddie walked around and sat beside Richie, lacing their hands together. He kissed Richie’s cheek, which made his eyelashes flutter and close. They were shimmering. Richie twisted his head and pressed his lips to Eddie’s, slowly. His brow furrowed like he was in pain.

‘One more day,’ Eddie whispered.

‘One more day, Eds,’ Richie repeated. He sighed and tried to smile. ‘What do you want to do with it?’

Eddie smiled and stroked Richie’s cheek. ‘I’ve got some ideas.’

They went downstairs and out the front door. Eddie ducked around the porch to reveal his old bicycle from behind the railing. Richie laughed, ‘You’ve still got that old rust bucket?’

‘Like you don’t still have yours,’ Eddie accused, and Richie grinned before hopping into his garage and trawling through the lawnmower cables and train sets to find his bike.

‘Where are we going?’ Richie asked.

Eddie hooked his leg over his bike seat. Looking over at Richie, he ran through flashbacks of cycle rides they’d shared: with all the Losers on that summer with It, the countless rides before with Stan and Bill, the countless rides after with Stan and Mike in the years following Bill, Ben and Bev’s departures from Derry.

‘Thought we’d start at the mall,’ Eddie said.

When they chained up their bikes outside, Richie peeked over his shoulder, then grabbed Eddie’s hand and pushed him into a secluded inlet of the terracotta. He kissed him, hard, slamming Eddie’s back up against the brickwork, his hand clutching at Eddie’s neck. Eddie’s hands balled into fists around Richie’s Hawaiian shirt, pulling him closer.

‘Where’d that come from?’ Eddie gasped.

Richie bit his lip. ‘I don’t know.’ His dark blue eyes darted between Eddie’s coppery brown ones, hand sliding from Eddie’s neck down the front of Eddie’s shirt. ‘Your heart’s beating so fast,’ he commented.

Eddie slackened his grip and let his own hand press against Richie’s ribcage. ‘Yours too.’

‘Yeah, well, I was thinking about your mom.’ Richie made a face.

Eddie pushed him away and rolled his eyes, ‘You’re the fucking worst. Come on.’

At first, they went to the arcade and were delighted to see that Street Fighter was available to play. The token machine devoured their quarters as they wrestled for each other’s joysticks, pressed each other’s buttons, trying to put the other one off their game. It didn’t much matter, Richie won nearly every time. He gloated shamelessly.

They went to the comic book store and were greeted by name from the clerk. They picked up toy light sabres and battled noisily, making their own exaggerated sound effects. Richie put on masks and imitated a thousand different character’s voices. He insisted that Eddie roleplay the damsel in distress so that he could rescue him. They argued which heroes and villains would win in a fight, which superpowers they would like to have, given the choice.

‘Teleportation,’ Eddie insisted. ‘Hands down, best superpower.’ 

‘Invisibility!’ Richie screeched. ‘How are you even arguing this?’

They wandered around the fountain. As was the custom, Eddie bought Richie a vanilla ice cream cone. It was a hot day and it melted quickly. They laughed as they licked at the drips slathering their hands. Eddie complained that it was making his fingers sticky, and Richie made a crude joke.

‘Do you remember when we were little,’ Richie said as Eddie disinfected his hands on a wipe, ‘and your mom never let you have ice cream, so I’d always let you share mine with me?’ Eddie nodded, and Richie added, ‘You were such a greedy fuck.’

‘I was not,’ Eddie refuted, wandering into a clothes store.

‘You’d only share with me,’ Richie said softly. ‘Sometimes the other guys would offer, and you’d always say no and that your mom would freak. You never said that to me.’

Eddie span around a clothes rack, ‘Is that such a surprise?’

Richie shrugged, ‘No, it’s just,’ he smirked, ‘it’s nice, you know? Even then, I was kind of special to you.’ 

Eddie tried to fight the smile, ‘That’s really fucking sappy.’

‘I was though, wasn’t I?’ Richie pressed, leaning across the railing.

Pretending to look through the clothing, Eddie admitted, ‘You’ve always been special to me.’ He looked up to see Richie staring down at him adoringly. He was expecting a sarcastic comment in response to his words, but none came. It was unsettling. He picked out a shirt from the rack.

‘Want to try it on?’ Richie asked.

Eddie frowned, ‘Nah.’

‘Eddie,’ Richie shot him a look. ‘Try on the shirt.’ When Eddie still looked perplexed, he bit his lip and darted his eyes towards the changing rooms and back again. He cocked an eyebrow.

Eddie’s stomach knotted. He randomly grabbed a handful of other items and Richie smirked. He followed Eddie towards the fitting rooms. They went to the back corner and slipped into a cubicle, locking the door. There was a gap of about six inches between the base of the door and the floor.

Eddie tilted Richie’s chin with his hand and started to kiss at his neck. He slid his tongue from Richie’s collarbone to his earlobe, nipping at the cartilage. Richie whimpered, and Eddie put his finger to Richie’s lips, ‘You have to be quiet,’ he said, almost inaudibly, then kissed him.

His lips not leaving Richie’s, Eddie started to undo the buttons of Richie’s shirt, exposing the dark curls spreading across his chest. His hands wrapped around the bare skin of Richie’s waist. Richie shivered.

‘Your hands are cold,’ he tremored.

‘Sorry,’ Eddie said, laughing silently. He kissed Richie again, his teeth tugging at Richie’s lower lip. Then he slipped down, kissing Richie’s chin. Richie dipped his head, chasing the kiss, but Eddie descended further, down the trachea and over his Adam’s apple, down his breastbone. His hands moved upwards, spreading across Richie’s back like wings, making Richie’s back arch as the nails pawed gently at the skin.

Richie’s head rocked back against the wall behind him, pressing the dark curls flat. He opened his eyes and gazed into the mirror in front of him through the thick lenses of his glasses. It felt alien, to see his own body there with Eddie’s crouched in front of it, his shirt sleeves dangling either side of Eddie’s head as he kissed every inch of his abdomen.

It didn’t look how he expected; it wasn’t posed in one of the magazines he had stashed under his bedcovers. He grew too focused on his own facial expressions, how large his glasses appeared on his face, the pallor of his skin, the awkwardness of his gangly limbs. Dissociated, Richie felt like he was watching someone else, some other couple. He didn’t like it.

Richie cupped his hand under Eddie’s jaw to pull him back to standing. It felt like sweet relief to see Eddie’s face again, blocking the mirror. He studied it, the pretty, oval shape before him, the flush in the cheeks, the flash behind the eyes as though there were cameras preserving Richie in this moment forever.

Dwindling the gap between them slowly, Richie watched Eddie close his eyes in anticipation before closing his own, their lips brushing against each other before Eddie’s tongue found Richie’s. Richie quickly rotated their bodies, a hasty tango.

The mirror out of sight to Richie, the room seemed to halve in size, shrinking around him. Richie tugged Eddie’s shirt off and onto the floor. Hastily, Eddie checked his hair in the mirror suddenly in his view. Richie rolled his eyes and pulled Eddie’s attention back to him by biting softly at Eddie’s neck and along the length of his collarbone to his shoulder.

‘Don’t you fucking dare give me a hickey,’ Eddie warned, raking a hand through Richie’s curls and tugging his head backwards.

Richie grinned, ‘I really wish I could.’ He let his fingertips graze over the area. ‘I think it would look really hot.’

Eddie swallowed, a coil in his stomach tightening, blood rushing south. ‘Yeah?’ He imagined seeing the purplish bruise on his neck, a marker of Richie’s presence, his intensity and passion, seared onto his skin.

‘Yeah,’ Richie said. He bit his lip and ran his hands down Eddie’s smooth torso, down the scored lines of his muscles. ‘So it’s probably a good thing I can’t, because fuck knows what I’d want to do to you afterwards.’

Eddie’s erection pushed uncomfortably against the front of his shorts. He felt it graze against Richie’s thigh as Richie leaned in to kiss him again.

‘Oh, hello,’ Richie growled, pushing his own hips forwards so that Eddie could feel the similar bulge in his jeans.

‘Hi,’ Eddie slurred as Richie kneaded against his groin. Spurred, he dragged his hand down Richie’s body and ran his finger along Richie’s waistband, just lifting the fabric of his boxers so that his nail could trace along the sensitive skin.

‘Fuck,’ Richie murmured into Eddie’s ear, hot and humid.

Suddenly, outside, there was a hubbub as a group of people blundered into the changing rooms, talking loudly.

‘Shit,’ Eddie lurched, annoyed, reaching down to the floor for his shirt and shimmying it over his head.

Equally vexed, Richie fumbled with the buttons of his shirt and clawed at the unruly curls on his head as though they had looked presentable before they entered.

‘I’ll see if the coast is clear,’ Richie vowed, opening the door a fraction and ducking his head through the gap. He held up a thumb, and the boys slipped into the gangway.

Nonchalant, they exited the shop, trying to stifle their laughter.

‘Food?’ Richie suggested.

\---

After a meal at their favourite diner, they found themselves back outside, unchaining their bikes.

‘Quarry?’ Eddie suggested.

They rode peacefully through the streets. When they got to the grass, they hopped off the seats and walked the bikes down towards the edge. There was a particular bush they knew they could safely conceal their vehicles, which they did, like they were still as valuable as they had once been.

They both knew they were headed to their private spot, an eroded shelf in the cliff face. Richie reached up to help Eddie down, even though they both knew that Eddie didn’t need his assistance. Richie looked at the wrist he was holding, the wrist which had once broken and been bound in a cast. Loser. Lover.

‘How’s it been so far?’ Eddie asked, brushing the dust off his shorts as he sat down, legs dangling over the chasm. ‘Your last day.’

Richie hugged his knees. He leant his chin into the gap between them. ‘It’s been fucking great,’ he said quietly. ‘I was wondering what we would do. I didn’t know,’ he sighed, ‘how to make it special.’

‘It didn’t have to be special. It just had to be you and me.’

Richie rocked his head so that his cheek rested on his knee, so that he could see Eddie. ‘I really fucking love you,’ he said.

Tears pricked in Eddie’s eyes. Richie had said it before; they both had, hundreds of times. But this time, Eddie felt the hurt in it. It wasn’t a declaration of joy or resilience or courage or obsession. It was sad, like the verse a soldier writes before his last battle: beautiful, desperate and resigned.

Eddie forced himself to look at Richie, to see that pain so viscerally in his eyes. ‘I love you too.’

Richie smiled, ‘This is the first place we said it.’

Eddie let himself smile too, ‘I know. I said it first. You laughed at me.’

‘Because it was ridiculous,’ Richie laughed again. ‘It was surreal. How the fuck were you in love with me? That’s all I could think. Eddie Kaspbrak is in love with me. What world is this?’

Eddie shrugged, ‘I don’t get it either. You’re an asshole.’

‘I am,’ Richie agreed. His face dropped, brow furrowing.

‘What?’ Eddie asked, crossing his legs and turning towards Richie.

‘Why do you?’ he asked suddenly.

‘Why do I what?’

‘Love me.’

Eddie looked confused, ‘There’s not just one reason.’

Richie surprised Eddie by suggesting, ‘Then tell me a few.’

Eddie nudged him, ‘I’m not going to list off. Don’t make me feed your ego.’

‘Go on,’ Richie nudged him back.

This wasn’t like Richie. Usually he would have made a sarcastic comment by now, or a joke, beefed up his own self-confidence with pseudo-narcissism. It made Eddie nervous; they didn’t often talk that seriously for that long.

‘Where’s this coming from?’ Eddie asked. ‘You’ve been waxing poetic all day.’

Richie widened his eyes, ‘Oh, like you haven’t? Look at the day you planned for us, Eds. You’re as bad as me.’

Eddie shifted, ‘Maybe.’

Richie bit his lip, ‘Okay, you want to know the truth?’

Eddie screwed up his nose, ‘You’re not going to say you fucked my mom, are you?’

‘No,’ Richie chuckled, then softened. ‘Truth is, I don’t know when I’ll next get to ask. Guess part of me just wants to hear it, you know, if there is an answer.’

Eddie chewed the inside of his cheek. ‘I don’t know. I’ve not really thought about it before.’

Richie’s gaze lowered, and he shrugged, ‘Guess that’s that then.’

‘Hold on, I’m thinking,’ Eddie gripped his hand and interlocked their fingers, grazing his thumb back and forth. ‘So fucking impatient,’ he muttered, looking out over the horizon.

Richie looked up at him, a smile creeping back onto his face, ‘Sorry.’

They were silent. Eddie watched the clouds roll steadily across the sky as he thought.

‘Anything?’ Richie whispered after a while.

Eddie’s mouth was a tight line. ‘I think it’s hard to answer because I don’t know what it’s like to not love you. It’s always been there so I don’t remember a time before. I don’t remember falling in love, I just remember realising I loved you. And I’ve never fallen for anyone else, so I don’t have that to compare it to.’

Eddie turned to see Richie’s expression. It was glowing; gorgeous and stupid.

Now he’d started, Eddie found he couldn’t stop. ‘Not loving you is completely hypothetical. It’s like you’ve asked me why I have two legs or why I like ice cream. So I guess the answer is just: because I do. I love you because I’m me and you’re you.’

Richie wished he could imprint Eddie’s words in his brain, wished he had a pencil and paper to spill it onto a page. Though he knew he would probably forget them tomorrow and he desperately wished that wasn’t the case, he was glad that he’d asked, glad that he’d heard it, because the way it made him feel was unlike anything he’d felt before, and it was so worth it to feel that even once.

Eddie darted his glance away nervously. ‘How’s that for an answer?’

‘I mean,’ Richie’s voice cracked, and he coughed. ‘It was okay.’

Pouting, Eddie pulled his hand away. ‘Dick,’ he said, then shuffled. ‘What about you then? Why do you love me?’

Richie leaned over and pushed his finger into the dimple of Eddie’s cheek, ‘Because you’re cute, cute, cute!’

‘Ah, fuck!’ Eddie yelled, pulling away. ‘Was this all a set up so you could do that again?’ 

‘No,’ Richie said, laughing. Eddie didn’t look convinced, so he said again, firmer, ‘No! I swear.’

‘Then go on.’ Eddie rolled his eyes, ‘You’ve clearly thought about it, so why do you?’

Richie scrambled so that he could sit behind Eddie, his legs still flopping over the side, his arms wrapped around Eddie’s waist, his head nestled into the crook of Eddie’s shoulder. He didn’t think he could say it whilst looking at Eddie’s face; it would make him too nervous, and he had too much he wanted to say.

‘I know everything about you,’ Richie began, ‘and you know everything about me. All the shit and the ugly bits and our crappy parents and what happened with It. You’re so annoying and angry and clean and I’m so annoying and flippant and gross but you’re still the person that I like most, and for some fucking reason, you still like me too.’

Eddie hummed and let his head rest on Richie’s shoulder. He stroked Richie’s arms up and down, soothing.

Richie went on, ‘And if we can see and know all of that and still want to hang out every day and talk absolute shit and kiss each other then that’s fucking something. No one pisses me off more, no one makes me laugh harder. There’s no one I feel more like myself around. I’ve never had to be anyone else to be someone to you,’ Richie’s breath hitched, and he closed his eyes. ‘I couldn’t be anyone else, even if I tried, and I wouldn’t want to be.’

‘Fucking hell,’ Eddie said, twisting his head so that he could just see the profile of Richie’s face. ‘That was actually pretty good.’

Eddie knew that, even more treasured than the words he’d heard from Richie’s lips, the true gift was Richie’s candour. No jokes, no veneer, no instinct for self-preservation. He wanted to be vulnerable, just for a few minutes, just to make sure that Eddie really understood, make sure that Eddie had a few kind words to hold onto after he was gone.

‘Yeah?’ Richie asked, sliding out from behind Eddie slightly.

‘Feel like mine could’ve been better,’ Eddie grumbled. ‘I’ll keep thinking. You had a head start on your answer, so.’

Richie’s jaw dropped open, ‘Are you seriously getting competitive right now?’

‘No, I’m just saying,’ Eddie raised his eyebrows.

Bursting out laughing, Richie screeched, ‘You’re such an asshole!’

‘You’re the asshole!’ Eddie insisted, but something was tickling at the back of his brain, something had triggered, but he didn’t have the thoughts in order yet.

Quickly, brutally, Richie kissed him, forcing Eddie to lean backwards and almost lose his balance.

‘Whoa, careful!’ Eddie scolded, laughing nervously as he eyed the drop stretching down to the water’s surface.

‘Sorry,’ Richie mumbled, kissing him again, holding Eddie up against his body.

Richie yanked at Eddie’s shirt collar, forcing him to move, ultimately cornering him in the nook at the back of the shelf, Eddie’s legs lying flat in front of him, feet no longer suspended over the nothing. He climbed over Eddie’s thighs, straddling him, clasping both hands on Eddie’s cheeks as he dotted kisses on his lips.

They broke apart. Eddie licked his lips, reddened and plump. He felt the trembling in the tips of his fingers, electric energy bubbling under the surface, as though his next touch on Richie’s skin would scald through him like a lightning bolt.

‘You’re really taking every opportunity today,’ Eddie exhaled raggedly.

Richie’s eyes sparkled, ‘You bet I am.’

Eddie could feel the tingling heat beneath his waist, the surge of wanting. He could tell from Richie’s heaving breaths that he was feeling the same. He let his jittering hands trickle down Richie’s body to his belt and started to unbuckle.

Richie spluttered, ‘Eds, what are you doing?’ His eyes widened as Eddie popped a button. He squeaked, ‘Eddie?’

Eddie hushed him, which merged into a heated kiss as he slid his hand down the front of Richie’s jeans, over the soft cotton of his boxers.

‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ Richie whimpered into Eddie’s mouth, pressing a palm against the smooth rock of the cliff face.

Eddie could feel the rigid curve from the tip to the base, his fingers tracing down further to graze the most sensitive skin, letting his nails drag ever so slightly as he pulled back up, curving his palm to squeeze lightly on the shaft. Then he squirmed his hand beneath the elastic of Richie’s boxers, and rubbed down again.

Richie grinded downwards, his back arching, eyes closing. ‘Fuck me,’ he gasped; an exclamation, a sign of enjoyment, not a request or command.

That didn’t stop Eddie from daring to say, ‘Not here, but maybe later.’

Richie’s eyes snapped open to meet Eddie’s. Unsure whether this was a joke or genuine, he probed, ‘Are you being serious?’

Eddie had never felt so confident as he did then, with Richie on top of him, writhing in the palms of his hands, his face hot and flustered, eyes wide with curiosity, desire and anxiety. ‘If you want me to be, then I am.’

Richie swallowed as he thought about what it would be like to have sex with Eddie Kaspbrak for about the millionth time. He thought about the steady thump against a mattress, the synchronisation of their breathing, the sound of a mutual climax.

After a few attempts to progress their sexual relationship before Eddie had been ready, Richie had taken a step back and allowed Eddie to take more of the lead. As soon as he did, Richie realised he preferred it when Eddie was in control, and Eddie seemed to like it too.

Richie loved the heat and the dirty, but he also realised just how much he loved the intimacy, the gentle strokes and leaning foreheads, holding hands and nose kisses. Each tiny step had been like ecstasy, they knew so many of each other’s idiosyncrasies, the little things which made the other tick, the parts of their own bodies that they loved and hated.

However, Richie had never expected Eddie to be ready for sex. It felt like such a huge step beyond the kissing and touching they’d rigorously explored. If Eddie was being serious, and it sounded like he was, then he wanted to discuss it first, to know that Eddie wasn’t doing this only for Richie’s sake.

Eddie slid his hand out of Richie’s jeans and up to his face. His heart was pounding. Richie’s stunned silence had unnerved him; he worried that he had taken things too far. ‘Richie?’

‘Fucking hell, Eds,’ Richie said suddenly. ‘You finally figured out how to shut off my Trashmouth.’

Eddie chuckled half-heartedly. ‘Never thought I’d see the day.’

‘You’re telling me,’ Richie scratched the back of his neck.

‘We don’t have to,’ Eddie said quickly. ‘I’m sorry, I just thought that, maybe, you might, because, well,’ he stumbled, scattered, the words tripping out of his mouth and piling on the ground in front of him in a wall of nonsense.

‘Slow down,’ Richie said. ‘Breathe.’

Eddie started to calm himself. ‘Sorry.’

‘Quit apologising,’ Richie scolded.

‘I know we haven’t really talked about it,’ Eddie wrinkled his nose, ‘and I guess it’s always kind of made me a little nervous, because I don’t really know what,’ he stopped, ‘or how,’ he stopped again. ‘But I figured, it’s you and I want it to be you.’

Richie lightly pulled his thumb down Eddie’s lower lip. ‘I want it to be you too.’

Eddie sat up straight as best he could with Richie still straddling him. He spread his hands over Richie’s shoulder blades and pressed their lips together. ‘Do you want to then?’ he asked. 

‘Fuck yes.’ Richie sighed, ‘Fuck, are you kidding me? You really want to? Because I do really want to, I just didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on you, but fuck,’ he squeezed the flesh around Eddie’s waist. ‘I think about it all the time.’

‘You do?’ Eddie gulped. That meant Richie had expectations.

‘You look surprised. You remember who you’re talking to, right?’ Richie snickered.

Eddie raised his eyebrows, ‘Good point.’

Eddie had thought about it too. A lot. He thought about the sweat beading on their foreheads, the mess of each other’s hair, intense eye-contact and a rucked duvet over intertwined legs.

Richie climbed off Eddie and sat beside him, buttoning his fly. ‘How much later is later?’ he asked.

‘Got to wait until my mom’s out.’

‘Okay,’ Richie nodded, the excitement circling in his chest like a flock of buzzards. He leaned over and kissed Eddie’s cheek. ‘Hope you’re better than she is in bed.’

‘Ew, Richie,’ Eddie frowned. ‘That is super gross.’

Richie teased, ‘You love me.’

‘I do,’ Eddie sighed, letting his head drop onto Richie’s shoulder.

They watched the sun set over the quarry, the sky spiralling in purples and pinks and reds and oranges, a heady cocktail of tropical colour.

\---

They rode through the streets. They pulled up outside Eddie’s house and went inside. Eddie hollered a few times just to check that Sonia was really gone. The calls echoes around the rooms, but there was no answer. They were alone.

Eddie paused at the top of the stairs, ‘Do you want to go first?’ he offered.

‘Go first?’ Richie questioned. ‘Kind of thought that we’d be doing something together.’

Eddie laughed, ‘I meant a shower.’ When Richie’s eyelids lowered, he opened the bathroom door. ‘Don’t give me that look. We’ve been outside all day. It’s been hot, we’ve been cycling, we’ve had our hands on the rock. We’re showering.’

Richie huffed and wandered into the bathroom. Eddie was about to close the door when Richie stuck his foot in the gap. ‘Wait,’ he said, biting his lip. ‘Do you want to, maybe, join me?’ he asked, swallowing the last word as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was saying.

Eddie felt his knees buckling underneath him. ‘Whoa, um,’ was all he managed.

‘Just to shower,’ Richie clarified. ‘Not _that_,’ he coughed, ‘in here. Just thought it,’ he ducked half his face behind the door, ‘might be nice.’

Eddie thought about the hot water, the soap and shampoo and Richie’s bare skin. It was two of his favourite things: Richie and getting clean. He wasn’t sure if he could handle that all at once. Still, he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.

‘The light’s a little harsh,’ Eddie snarled.

‘I don’t care,’ Richie said, pushing himself up against Eddie and kissing him, raking his hands through Eddie’s hair, relishing that it was one occasion where Eddie wouldn’t care if it was messed up. The hair was gorgeously soft against his fingers; he pulled at it delightedly.

Eddie slipped off his shirt and Richie unbuttoned his, shrugging it off his shoulders until it coiled in a heap on the floor. Eddie reached for Richie’s belt for the second time that day, only this time he pulled at the buckled end until the full length of the leather unfurled and snapped like a whip.

Richie started to reach for the button of his own jeans, when Eddie blurted, ‘You need to take off your socks.’

‘What?’

‘Well,’ Eddie choked, ‘I’m not taking off your socks, and you’re not taking off your trousers until the socks are gone, because otherwise you’ll just be stood there in your boxers and your socks. And that’s—’

Richie cut him off, ‘Eddie, shut the fuck up and let me take my fucking socks off.’ He paused, ‘Aren’t you going to take off yours then?’

‘See? You get my point,’ Eddie smirked.

Bare feet on the cold tiles, Eddie kissed Richie through their mutual laughter, letting his hands slide through the gaps between Richie’s ribs.

He twitched and murmured, ‘That tickles.’

‘What, this?’ Eddie said, scrambling his fingers.

‘Stop!’ Richie spluttered, squirming away and almost tripping on the bath mat, only Eddie caught him just in time, hauling him upright. He scowled, annoyed and vaguely embarrassed.

Eddie reached up to push the hair away from Richie’s red face, tucking loose curls behind his ear. Fondly, he smiled, tracing down the angular bridge of Richie’s nose, over the lips to his pointed chin.

Richie put on a cartoonish voice, ‘Do I be da pwittiest, pwittiest boy?’

‘Fuck off,’ Eddie snorted. He grazed the fly of Richie’s jeans and started to work the zipper down.

Richie simultaneously reached for Eddie’s shorts, dexterously unbuttoning. Not held up with a belt, they quickly fell to the floor leaving Eddie in his underwear. Richie could see the outline of the curve through the translucent white fabric. He tried not to stare. He failed.

‘Well, fuck,’ Eddie commented, watching Richie’s boxers expand towards him as he bent down to tug at the unforgiving denim of the jeans.

‘Do you want to take them off?’ Richie asked, ‘While you’re down there.’ He knew that Eddie would think he was being brave, brash even, but the truth was he’d rather be the first one to be naked. Second is a comparison. First is safe.

Eddie gulped. There had been a few other occasions when he’d briefly seen Richie completely nude; non-arousing drunken situations where Richie had been dared to do something stupid without any kit on and he’d happily obliged.

This was different. Richie was hard, for one thing. Second, Richie was standing perfectly still, not running around like a madman. Thirdly, he knew that once Richie had disrobed, he was next.

Still, Eddie found the waistband of Richie’s boxers and carefully pulled them down, trying not to gawp too much at the unfamiliar presentation before him, flicking his eyes away. He could see it though, out of the corner of his eye, bobbing slightly, suspended in the air. He stood. It brushed against his thigh and he quivered.

Richie was biting his lip, torn between looking at his lower half and Eddie’s face, insecure. Eddie wasn’t sure how to help aside from removing his own underwear, which he did quickly before he had a chance to think much about it. His toes curled anxiously as he chewed the inside of his cheek.

Richie tried to sustain eye-contact, but ultimately lost a battle of wills and let his eyeline drop. His cheeks flushed, and an awkward, nervous smile stretched across his face, eyes wide. He’d never seen Eddie completely naked before, not once. It was exhilarating, to think that he was probably the first, probably the only person to see Eddie this way, certainly the only one as a teenager, or as a lover.

Eddie stepped forward and Richie leaned back, hurriedly asking, ‘What are you doing?’

Looking over his shoulder, Eddie jerked his head, ‘I thought we were getting in the shower.’ Then he stepped over the porcelain rim of the bathtub and behind the shower curtain.

He knew how to manipulate the knobs and handles to get the temperature just right. Water sputtered out of the shower head, then became a steady stream, hissing, beating down on the tub like heavy rain. Steam began to rise from down by his feet. He let the water spatter his face and neck, eyes closed. He massaged shampoo into his scalp.

Richie mustered the courage to climb in after him, removing his hastily fogging glasses, careful not to slip on the now wet porcelain. Eddie was faced away from him, so Richie could see the muscles working in his back as Eddie raked his hands through his hair. He could see the dimples just above Eddie’s buttocks.

He walked towards Eddie, placing his hands on his shoulders first so as not to alarm him, then let his touch glide down either side of Eddie’s spine as he planted a row of kisses along the nape of his neck. It tasted bitter, perfumed from the shampoo, but he didn’t mind. He cupped Eddie’s ass and squeezed gently; it was slick with water, firm and taut.

‘Well, this is,’ Eddie breathed, water dripping off his chin, off the end of his nose.

Richie reached around Eddie’s hips, one hand sliding up the inside of Eddie’s thigh until he grazed his balls, the other wrapping around the base of Eddie’s shaft. Slowly, he started to pump up and down, the position mimicking masturbation for Richie which aided his technique.

‘Oh, fuck,’ Eddie whined, reaching one arm backwards to clutch at the curls on the back of Richie’s head, the other sliding up Richie’s leg. ‘Shit.’

‘Calm down, we’re only just getting started,’ Richie growled low into Eddie’s ear, but he was talking to himself as much as he was Eddie. He could feel his erection pushing hard into the small of Eddie’s back, throbbing.

Eddie knew he had to make Richie stop, else he would finish here and now, and there would be less hope for the rest of the evening. So he turned around and let his back sit flush against the cool tiles, ‘Oh, yeah?’ he said, then handed Richie a soap. ‘Then you better get clean quick.’

Richie licked his lips, ‘I like it when you’re bossy.’

Eddie had to stop himself from giggling girlishly. Instead he reached for a second bar of soap and hiccoughed, ‘Why’s that?’

Richie shook his head and cocked an eyebrow, ‘Honestly, I don’t know, but I definitely do.’

They performed a difficult manoeuvre to swap places so that Richie could rinse the suds from his skin. Eddie strangely liked to watch how he rubbed the water away from his eyes, how he gasped for air between the jets, how the curls of his leg hair straightened when damp.

‘You’re looking at me,’ Richie said, with one eye open, hands in his hair.

‘Is that allowed?’ Eddie asked, moving closer to him, running his hands down Richie’s arms.

‘It’s fucking encouraged,’ Richie corrected, then kissed him. It was strange to kiss when their faces were wet, when their skin was hot, with droplets trickling into their mouths, but it wasn’t bad, just odd.

Eddie leaned behind to turn off the faucets, pressing his body against Richie’s so he didn’t rapidly chill. He reached for some towels and soon they were both drying off on the bathroom floor.

They wrapped the towels around their waists and looked at each other. Richie’s hair still had a vague curl to it, and it seemed darker, raven black. Eddie’s hair lay flat, flopping down over his forehead. It had been a long time since Richie had seen it that way. He leaned over and ran his hand over the fringe, pressing it to stick.

‘It looks like Bill’s used to,’ he snickered.

‘Fuck off,’ Eddie chided, swiping it backwards.

Richie pressed his lips to Eddie’s. ‘I’m clean now,’ he said, a gleam in his eyes, dragging out each word meaningfully, ‘I’m so, so clean.’

‘Stop it, or I’ll take you right here,’ Eddie susurrated.

‘Seriously?’ Richie snorted.

‘No!’ Eddie slapped his chest. ‘Jesus, I’m not that fucking weird.’

‘You’re pretty weird,’ Richie retorted. When Eddie pouted, his chucked his chin, ‘It’s one of the things I like most about you, don’t worry.’

The boys left the bathroom and wandered into Eddie’s bedroom. Eddie closed the door behind them, then lowered the blinds of his window. His heart started to beat ferociously in his chest.

Whilst Eddie was turned around, Richie unwrapped his towel and threw it over his head, rubbing furiously to remove as much of the moisture as he could. Then he dropped the towel on the floor.

‘Pick that up,’ Eddie demanded when he turned around. ‘Hang it on the back of the door.’

Richie bit his lip, wondering if this was part of an act or Eddie’s genuine personality. Either way, he bent down for the towel and hooked it on the door with a dutiful, ‘Yes, sir,’ and a salute.

Eddie felt like his brain was screaming. Telling Richie what to do and having Richie obey was not something that happened on the day-to-day. In fact, Richie had a habit of always doing the opposite of what someone asked, especially Eddie. This change was kind of fun; it made him feel a little powerful, even though Richie could take it away at any second by saying no or telling him to fuck off.

Eddie hung up his own towel and turned around to see Richie laying down on the bed, propped up on his elbow. Richie took in the vision before him and reminded himself that he wasn’t dreaming.

‘What?’ Eddie asked, feeling self-conscious from Richie’s roaming eyes.

Richie put his hands beneath his chin and batted his eyelashes, ‘You’re pretty.’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Eddie said, embarrassed, his cheeks glowing pink, but secretly, he loved it when Richie called him pretty. He tottered quickly to the bed and climbed onto it, rolling onto his side to mirror Richie’s position. He pulled Richie in for a kiss, but Richie snapped away.

‘Oh, fuck!’ Richie cried.

‘What?’ Eddie asked, terrified that he had done something wrong. ‘What is it?’

Richie puffed out his cheeks. ‘I don’t have a,’ he stopped, scratching his neck. ‘I mean, I normally keep one in my wallet, you know, because I’m me, but I gave it to Mike to use on prom night as, well, I knew I wasn’t using it and shit, I never replaced it.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Eddie squeaked.

Richie’s brow furrowed, ‘Eddie, we should probably use one. Fuck, and we probably need some,’ he bit his lip, pondering further. ‘I mean, I don’t know much, but I know that much. Besides, it’s you, of all people. I thought you’d insist.’

‘No,’ Eddie scrunched his nose. ‘I meant that I have some.’

Richie’s eyes flashed wildly, and he grinned, ‘Really?’ He gasped, ‘How long have you been planning this? Unless,’ he paused, ‘your mom didn’t give them to you like four years ago or something?’

Eddie shoved him, ‘No, asshole. I bought them.’

‘You bought them?’ Richie chuckled, the image of Eddie buying condoms in a supermarket oddly comical to him. ‘Christ, Eds, I didn’t know you had it in you.’ He wormed around to his other side so that he could open Eddie’s bedside drawer. ‘What did you get?’

Eddie leaned over him to bat at his hands. ‘You can’t just go through my possessions without asking.’

‘I’m curious,’ Richie defended, rummaging for what he could find. He pulled out a bottle of lubricant. ‘Huh, you really thought of everything.’

Eddie flushed and hid under the duvet, ‘Yeah, well, it’s all kind of there in one place at the store, so.’

‘Don’t be embarrassed,’ Richie scolded, climbing under the sheets to find him. ‘I’m fucking impressed. My influence has really rubbed off on you.’

Eddie’s eyelids lowered, and he pouted, ‘I guess so.’ His shoulders were shrugged up to his ears, as though he were a turtle retreating into his shell.

‘What’s that face for?’ Richie complained, dragging Eddie closer to him by the waist. ‘It’s a turn-on to know that you’ve been thinking about that stuff.’

Eddie started to relax, ‘Really?’

Richie nodded, and leaned in towards Eddie, brushing their lips together. Eddie sank into the kiss, prising Richie’s mouth open. Under his hands, Richie’s skin was buttery soft, still vaguely warm from the shower, smelling fresh and fragrant.

Comfortable again, Eddie pushed against Richie’s shoulder so that he could climb on top of him, knees either side of Richie’s waist, hardly breaking the kiss. He felt Richie’s hands glide down his back and keep going, unobstructed by the usual waistband, until they could grip firmly at his legs.

Eddie slid down slightly so that he could kiss down Richie’s chest, taking each nipple into his mouth in turn and sucking gently, before continuing to trace down Richie’s stomach.

Richie propped himself up on his elbows to better see Eddie’s lips meet his skin over and over, growing tantalisingly closer to the newly exposed area. As Eddie’s hands began to wrap around his thighs and he showed no signs of slowing, he felt the blood surging almost painfully southwards, and his cock quivered inches away from Eddie’s face.

Eddie noticed the movement; he took it as a good sign. He raised his head just enough that he could look Richie in the eyes. ‘Can I?’ he said, flashing his eyes down and back up again.

‘Fuck,’ Richie said, the word cracking into three as it toppled out of his mouth.

‘That’s not a yes,’ Eddie pressed, laying his head on Richie’s thigh, his hand pushing up the underside of Richie’s groin, cupping his balls in preparation. ‘So?’

Richie wasn’t sure if he could speak, so he nodded instead, then managed, ‘Yeah.’

Eddie had never been more nervous in his life, but he was better at hiding it than Richie was. Besides, he knew that Richie would be expecting him to take the steps first, to let Richie know he was okay, that he was really ready. The nerves were eased from seeing just how excited Richie already was, the hungry eagerness in his eyes. He was sure that Richie would tear his lip open if he kept biting it so hard.

As Eddie pressed the flat of his tongue to the base of Richie’s cock, he became overwhelmed with the newness of this activity. Sure, holding Richie, pumping his shaft and bringing him to orgasm was different to masturbation: he couldn’t gauge things in the same way and he had to learn how Richie responded to things slightly differently, but at least he knew how it felt to have a cock in his hand, roughly what to do, because he had one of his own that he could touch.

He licked slowly up the length to the tip, flicking his tongue over Richie’s slit. Momentarily he was alarmed at the taste of the bead of precum which he had unknowingly taken into his mouth, but it soon disappeared, and he ducked down to lick again.

He hovered for a moment at the top, then opened his mouth to close around the head. He slid down a few inches, gagged, and came back up. He wasn’t sure about the feeling of the pressure on the back of his throat, but he tried again, and then again, slowly, easing himself into the bizarre sensation.

Richie watched Eddie’s head dip between his legs in stunned reverie, trying to resist the urge to buck his hips which would accidentally throttle Eddie. He’d never felt the warmth and wetness of someone’s mouth around him before now, and it had been worth the wait. Feeling strangely lazy, he reached down to run his hands through Eddie’s hair.

Eddie lifted his head, ‘Do you want me to stop?’

‘Fuck no,’ Richie spluttered. ‘It feels,’ he stammered and corrected, ‘Don’t fucking stop.’ Then he panicked, ‘Unless you want to stop.’

Eddie smiled, ‘No, I think I’m good, actually.’

‘Yeah?’ Richie checked, his eyes wide, breathing heavy.

Eddie nodded, ‘Yeah,’ he said, licking his lips, then closed his mouth around the tip once more, only this time he didn’t break eye contact with Richie for a moment as he descended and rose.

‘Fucking hell,’ Richie exclaimed in pleasure and disbelief. He grappled for Eddie’s hands and pulled him, ‘Okay, get the fuck up here a second, I need to show you what you’re doing to me.’

Eddie squealed involuntarily as Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie’s back and flung him down on the mattress. He kissed him hard; there was an unfamiliar, musky taste on Eddie’s lips and Richie loved it. Then he moved down Eddie’s body in one swift movement, hands dragging down Eddie’s abdomen.

Unlike Eddie, Richie wrapped a hand around the lower half of Eddie’s cock so that he could keep it still, because the rest of his body was trembling. He closed his mouth over the tip, swirling his tongue dangerously impatiently around the circumference, then sank down.

‘Oh, fuck!’ Eddie moaned, realising what Richie had been so worked up about. His hands curled into fists gripping the sheets beneath him, his head threw back against the pillow, eyes screwed up tight.

Richie sucked faster than Eddie had, but in honesty he hardly noticed his own speed; the adrenaline coursed through his body in violent bursts. He felt wonderful.

Eddie felt much the same. Phosphenes danced in his retinas and his muscles struggled, trying desperately to relax his body and finding it near impossible. Strange, guttural noises escaped his throat.

Richie’s head ran a startling inner monologue reminding him of what was happening as it was happening, but he was barely processing. There was too much joy, and Richie had never felt that much joy all at once. He felt guilty, as though he weren’t allowed to feel that way. Guilt morphed into sadness, and his fervour diminished, slowing to a halt.

‘Is something wrong?’

Richie looked up to see Eddie gazing down at him, doe eyes wide; a thin veil of sweat shining across his forehead, hair drying sporadically, ruggedly; chest rising and falling, audible breaths. Love swarmed inside him voraciously, threatening to consume him.

‘No,’ Richie said, climbing back up so that his face was suspended over Eddie’s. ‘I’m fine.’

‘You don’t mean that,’ Eddie shook his head slightly. He raised his hand to Richie’s cheek, worried line between his eyebrows. ‘Tell me.’

Richie instinctively teared up at the tender touch and blinked it away, feeling ridiculous. He pressed his lips to Eddie’s, unsteady. ‘I love you,’ he said, and that much was true.

‘I love you,’ Eddie said, desperately trying to read the complicated expression on Richie’s face. ‘We can stop, if it’s not what you thought, or,’ Eddie hesitated, ‘if it’s not right, I don’t mind.’

‘It’s not that,’ Richie promised, a dark heat penetrating the undertone of his voice. ‘This,’ he kissed Eddie again with vigour, ‘this is fucking perfect. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.’ As he said this, he realised that this was the problem. At the risk of dampening the mood, he said, ‘But tomorrow I will be.’

Eddie’s heart splintered, ‘Right,’ he said. In all his enthusiasm, nostalgia and love, Eddie had almost forgotten that this might not just be the first time, but the only time. He toyed with a rogue lock of Richie’s hair that was lingering in front of his face.

Riche dipped his head so that his forehead could rest on Eddie’s shoulder. He closed his eyes and let his limbs relax, slumping onto Eddie, his back curling, their legs intertwining. ‘It’s just not fucking fair,’ he spat.

Eddie had never really heard Richie talk about the move with anger or venom. He’d been melancholy, resigned, down, sedate, anxious, but not angry. Eddie didn’t know about the hole that Richie had kicked through the fence in his back garden on the day his parents had broke the news. Eddie didn’t know about the vitriolic arguments Richie had shared with his father, the plates he’d smashed in front of his mother, the pillow he’d burst open from punching repeatedly.

Richie hadn’t shared the rage with Eddie because he didn’t want to be angry around Eddie in what he knew were their last few months together. He wasn’t really angry at his parents, even though they had bore the brunt of his outbursts, but he knew they were coming with him, so they were acceptable casualties. He was angry at Derry, at It, and all the shit that came with it, especially the forgetting.

Eddie would be staying behind in this hellscape, with all his memories, all his quirks, all his love. Richie was leaving him, in every possible sense of the word. It made him furious; it terrified him. Worse still, he knew that at some point, Eddie would probably leave Derry too, and forget Richie. The thought was unbearable.

‘No, it’s not fair,’ Eddie agreed, stroking soothingly at Richie’s head, his fingers knotting in the drying curls. ‘But I planned this day to be like any other day.’ He stiffened his upper lip. ‘So let’s just enjoy it as though it is. Like we still have tomorrow and next week and next year.’ Of course, Eddie needed to pretend as much as Richie did.

‘Any other day,’ Richie whispered to himself, then raised his head, ‘I guess we’ve had a lot of those.’

Eddie nodded and smiled, ‘Yeah, we have.’

Richie kissed him like any other kiss. ‘We’ve not done this on any other day before,’ he noted, looking down the slim gap between their bodies.

‘Then I guess today’s a fucking good day,’ Eddie laughed, pushing himself to sit up, Richie on his lap as though he were the smaller of the two boys.

Richie eyed the objects on the nightstand. ‘Shall we?’

Eddie gulped and stuttered, ‘Okay. Yeah.’

Richie opened the box of condoms and put one of the silver wrappers on the side in preparation. Then he reached for the bottle of lube and started to squirt it on his hand.

‘What are you doing?’ Eddie asked, blinking rapidly. ‘Are you going to,’ he cocked his head, ‘To yourself?’

Richie furrowed his brow, ‘No, this is for you.’

‘What?’

‘Well, I think I have to use my hands first and then I –’

Eddie cut him off, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. You think that I,’ he scoffed.

Richie’s eyebrows raised, ‘Oh, you thought that _I_,’ he smirked. ‘That’s cute, Eds. Really.’

‘What is so fucking funny?’ Eddie slapped him.

Richie bragged, ‘But I’m so much taller.’

‘That doesn’t have anything to do with it,’ Eddie said indignantly, offended.

Richie sat back and looked at Eddie curiously. ‘You really want to be the one,’ he hesitated, unsure of the terminology, ‘on top?’

‘Why didn’t you think I would?’ Eddie asked, genuine.

Richie frowned. ‘Honestly, I didn’t think you’d want to go down _there_,’ he gestured. ‘Never even considered it.’

‘Why’d you think I made you shower?’ Eddie rebuffed, but in fairness, he hadn’t considered his hands much in the equation before. Then he scratched his neck, ‘Well, how about we think about it the other way. We’re both happy to be on the top, but who would also be happy,’ he faltered, ‘on the bottom?’

Richie bit his lip and admitted, ‘Maybe I would.’ His stomach flipped at the prospect; it was a whole new fantasy to explore.

Eddie thought about his hands again, ‘Maybe I would.’ He didn’t want to waste too much time discussing. ‘You’ve already got all that stuff on your hands, so we might as well try it your way first.’

Richie retracted a little, ‘Not if you think it’s _my _way.’

‘No, no, really,’ Eddie protested, hearing the sincerity in his own voice and surprising himself. ‘I want you to.’

Richie didn’t realise how much those words would have an effect on him. ‘Yeah?’ When Eddie nodded, he said, ‘Okay, uh, do you want to lie down?’

Eddie leant back down leisurely, his head flopping onto the pillow. Working his legs open, Richie periodically darted glances between Eddie’s face and what he was exposing, wondering what the hell he was expected to do, and hoping that Eddie would be okay with it. 

Richie propped the bottle of lubricant on the bed next to him, hoping that it would stay upright. He kneeled between Eddie’s legs, leaning over him slightly so that he could better gauge Eddie’s reaction. Then he positioned his finger millimetres from Eddie’s entrance.

‘You ready for me to…?’ Richie trailed off, as Eddie was nodding. He slowly started to press against the hole, applying just a little pressure at first, rubbing in small circles.

Eddie cooed, pleasantly happy with the sensation. He reached for Richie’s other hand to hold. He squeezed tightly as Richie started to push inside him. ‘Fuck, okay,’ he seethed. ‘Go slowly.’

‘Does it hurt?’ Richie asked.

‘A bit, but it’s okay,’ Eddie said. ‘You can keep going.’

Richie pushed until his forefinger was completely inside. He paused for a second or two, and felt Eddie beginning to relax beneath him. Then he slowly started to pull it back out, but not all the way.

Eddie screwed up his nose, ‘Huh, that feels fucking weird.’

‘Good weird?’ Richie asked, his nose twitching.

Eddie shifted, ‘I don’t know. Try it again.’

Richie did as he was told. It was easier this time. He started to push in again, slightly faster than before. Eddie squeezed at his hand and hummed as Richie picked up the pace of his wrist action. ‘Better?’ Richie asked.

‘Yeah,’ Eddie affirmed. ‘Maybe put another one in.’

Richie squeezed another dollop of lubricant onto his hand and then pushed a second finger into the hole. Eddie bucked; reflex reaction. ‘Whoa, okay,’ Richie yelped. He maintained the steady, faster pace that he had done with one finger. Then he started to go harder.

‘Fuck!’ Eddie cried suddenly, shooting upwards.

‘Did I hurt you?’ Richie asked, panicked.

‘Fuck. No!’ Eddie gushed. ‘No, that felt good. Do that again. You hit something.’

Richie did as he was told. Eddie keened against him, driving his fingers deeper, and soon Richie could feel what Eddie was talking about. He started to press against it, rub circles around it, spread his fingers either side of it, seeing what made Eddie squirm most.

Eddie’s contracting abdomen glistened with the pre-come leaking from his tip. His cheeks flushed pinker than usual, his lips had reddened, his eyes were shining. Richie thought he had never looked more beautiful.

‘Try three,’ Eddie groaned.

‘You sure?’ Richie quivered with excitement. Seeing Eddie enjoying himself so much was thrilling. Knowing that he was the one making Eddie feel that way was even better.

He pushed in a third finger. Eddie gasped and gritted his teeth. ‘Fuck, Richie.’

‘You okay?’ Richie asked. His spine tingled when Eddie stammered his name.

‘I won’t last much longer,’ Eddie admitted.

‘So, do you want me to –?’ Richie bit his lip.

‘Yeah,’ Eddie nodded eagerly. ‘Fuck yeah.’

Richie enjoyed cursing at the best of times. He enjoyed seeing Eddie curse at the best of times; it was amusing. Eddie cursing during sex wasn’t funny at all. It was incredibly arousing.

Richie reached over for the condom, glad that the wrapper tore easily. It took a second for him to figure out which was the right way around, the rolled it down. He squeezed the lubricant onto his other hand and started to slather it over the latex sheath.

‘You’re not allergic to latex, are you?’ Richie asked quickly, getting onto his knees and positioning himself.

Eddie shook his head and laughed, ‘I don’t think so.’ Only Richie would know to ask.

‘Are you ready?’ Richie asked, looking deep into Eddie’s eyes for any sign of discomfort or concern, but he found none.

‘Yeah,’ Eddie said, smiling, the euphoria of what had come before barely starting to diminish as Richie guided himself into Eddie. ‘Oh, ow!’ he whined. ‘Slower, slower.’ He puffed out a heavy breath.

‘Sorry,’ Richie murmured, squeezing the rest of his length inside with devastating patience. ‘Holy shit,’ he couldn’t help muttering, trying again not to buck into Eddie whilst he was so sensitive.

‘Stay there a second,’ Eddie requested, his voice strained, pushing his hands up onto Richie’s pecs, the familiar down of his chest hair curling around his fingers.

‘I’m not sure how long I can,’ Richie spluttered, the tension beginning to snap inside him.

Eddie’s breathing regulated. ‘Okay, try moving.’

Richie backed out, then thrust back in.

‘Fuck!’ they whimpered in unison, then chuckled at each other.

Richie thrust again, more confidently this time. Eddie’s back arched, and his head dug into the pillow as he moaned.

‘Fucking hell,’ Richie grunted as he pushed and pulled his hips ritualistically. He pushed Eddie’s legs further apart so that he could lean down over Eddie’s chest far enough to kiss his lips. ‘I’m gonna come soon,’ he warned.

‘Me too,’ Eddie managed between sharp pants, wrapping his arms around Richie’s back and neck, feeling the sweat dancing over his skin.

With a few more snaps of Richie’s hips, their climaxes shattered through them, more excruciating and powerful than they had ever been before. Eddie jetted white over his own stomach and chest.

They stayed there for a moment, not speaking. Richie felt himself softening and slowly slid out. He pulled off the condom and tied it, then leaned to throw it away.

Eddie reached for the tissues on his nightstand and started to mop the mess off himself with mild disgust. Then he crashed back onto the pillow with a heaving sigh.

Richie sidled next to him, burrowing himself under Eddie’s arm so that he could rest his head on Eddie’s shoulder. His hands ran over Eddie’s chest and down his waist, squeezing.

‘Fuck me,’ Richie exhaled heavily.

‘I just did,’ Eddie complained, and they laughed.

Eddie tilted his chin down to kiss Richie. He tasted of salt and sex and heat. ‘I love you, Trashmouth,’ he whispered.

‘I love you too, Spaghetti.’ Richie held him, tightly, fearing that he would never hold him like this again. ‘Best fucking day.’

‘I should fucking well hope so!’ Eddie blurted.

Richie hummed. ‘I’m exhausted,’ he admitted. ‘It’s hard work, all that.’

‘Luckily, you’re sleeping here.’ Eddie kissed his cheek. ‘But we should get pyjamas on sooner rather than later.’ He slapped his own forehead, ‘Ugh, and we need to put up the mattress for you to pretend you’re sleeping in.’

Richie shook his head, ‘All this extra effort we have to put in and no-one can give us any credit for it.’

‘Worth it,’ Eddie said.

Richie smiled, ‘Yeah. Worth it.’

\---

They heard Sonia come home, and Richie jumped out of the bed onto the spare mattress, wearing a pair of Eddie’s pyjama bottoms that were about six inches too short. They heard her elephant feet thunder up the stairs. She peeked in on the room and they pretended to sleep. She left.

After a few minutes of her pottering about in the bathroom, they heard her head to bed. Richie whispered, ‘Can I come back now?’

Eddie whispered, ‘Yeah, I think so.’

Richie scrambled back under Eddie’s duvet, lacing their hands together, gazing into his eyes. He knew that he couldn’t forget Eddie’s eyes. If he saw them again, he’d know; he’d recognise them. He promised himself that he would.

‘You’re definitely better in bed than her, by the way,’ Richie said.

Eddie lowered his eyes and groaned, ‘Well, thank fuck, and fuck you.’

'Christ, Eddie, you want another round already?' Richie grinned and kissed Eddie’s hand. ‘The real question is: who was better, you or me?’

‘Now who’s getting competitive?’ Eddie scolded.

‘So you think you’re better,’ Richie raised his eyebrows. ‘Good to know.’

‘I didn’t say that!’ Eddie protested.

‘You’re not denying it,’ Richie laughed.

‘If I say you’re better, I’ll never hear the end of it,’ Eddie complained, then realised what he said. There were only a few more hours of darkness left, then the sun would rise, and Richie would be going.

Richie could see the sudden sadness registering on Eddie’s face. He drew him in closer, kissing his cheeks, his chin, his nose. ‘How about if I say you’re better first?’ Richie offered.

‘It’s not a competition, asshole,’ Eddie tutted, then a new realisation shunted forwards in his brain, something his subconscious had been working on for hours that he hadn’t even noticed.

‘I know, I’m just messing with you,’ Richie said, worried by the new, unreadable expression on Eddie’s face. ‘What? Is it something I said?’

Eddie nodded, ‘Yeah, but not in a bad way. I just,’ he exhaled, ‘I just figured out why I love you, is all.’

Richie spluttered sarcastically, ‘Oh, that’s all?’

Eddie smirked. He leaned forwards and pressed a feverish, beautiful kiss on Richie’s lips. He looked at him with more adoring love than he knew he had stored in his body. It crept out of recesses in his heart and mind, from the tips of his toes to the ends of his hair, his teeth and his fingernails.

‘Are you planning on sharing?’ Richie pressed.

‘It’s not a competition,’ Eddie said.

‘You already said that,’ Richie said flatly. ‘Then you said some other things, like that you know why you love me. More of that bit, please.’

‘No, but that’s it,’ Eddie insisted. ‘Yeah, we get stupid and playfully competitive but the love itself,’ he smiled, ‘it’s not a competition.'

Richie blinked at him.

Eddie spoke slowly, carefully, forming the thoughts on his lips as they poured out of his head. 'You don’t make me feel like love is a game that I never entered and somehow have to win. You make me feel like love just _is_, like it’s a right, or something that I deserve. There are no rules or boundaries or conditions. I don’t have to follow, or obey, and weirdly that makes me trust you more than anyone, because you never asked me to trust you. You never told me to love you. No one else has ever loved me like that, and I don’t know how you learned to love me like that, but I’m really glad you did, because I know what love looks like when I’m with you. I know how it’s supposed to feel. And I know I’ve never had it from anywhere else.’

Richie was dumbfounded. He didn’t have words, he didn’t have jokes. But he had Eddie. He pulled him so close he thought they might just morph into one person; and thought that would just be the perfect thing, so that he could take Eddie with him wherever he went. He pressed their lips together.

‘Did I shut off the Trashmouth again?’ Eddie whispered anxiously.

‘I’m not sure it’ll come back on,’ Richie balked.

‘Fucking hell, I broke you,’ Eddie laughed.

Richie kissed him, ‘Yeah, I think you did.’

There was a silence. It made Eddie laugh again, ‘You really have nothing to say, do you?’

Richie shook his head, red spots on his cheeks.

Eddie jostled him, ‘Say you fucked my mom, that always makes you feel better.’

‘Nah,’ Richie dismissed, then grinned, ‘Why would I say that when I can say I fucked _you_?’

‘And he’s back,’ Eddie mimicked his expression.

‘I love you,’ Richie said quietly.

‘I love you too.’ Eddie stroked his hair. ‘We should get some sleep.’

Richie nodded, kissed him, and turned away, curling his back so that he nestled into Eddie, pulling Eddie’s arm across his waist. Eddie’s nose burrowed into his hair. It smelled like Eddie’s shampoo.

‘Goodnight,’ Richie said.

‘Goodnight.’

And it really had been a good night.

They slept. They slept like it was any other night. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading ! Let me know what you think in the comments :) 
> 
> And do go and read my big fic No-One But You if you want literally tons of Reddie fluff and angst content.
> 
> Cheerio!


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